The total kora beginner course!

Choose the best kora hold—from floor on a cushion to a stand or chair—and adjust posture for relaxed shoulders, upright gaze, and resonant sound.

Learn how to find a kora by visiting nearby builders and testing fit and sound. Use Facebook groups for advice and local sellers.

Explore kora scales across starting notes and octaves through practical exercises. Build chords by combining scale notes, like C D or C E G B, with a basic theoretical grounding.

Master scale exercises with and without a metronome, starting at C, progressing through multiple keys, and ascending and descending in one direction before reversing, a comprehensive recapitulation for future performance.

Discover scales and chords on the kora by starting at the root and moving to the octave, then pair notes to form simple chords.

Explore even and uneven rhythms on the kora with a slow, four-beat exercise using a metronome. Start without a metronome, then practice at 50 bpm with posture and relaxed fingers.

Master uneven rhythm exercises by cycling between scale degrees across octaves in a three beat rhythm, using a metronome at a very slow tempo to improve accuracy and reduce mistakes.

Practice rhythm exercises using echo to map scales, jumping to the end and selecting the third note in a higher octave. Understand even and uneven rhythm patterns and scale structure.

Master the spine, face, and introduction of a kora tune by learning the melody, accompaniment, and how to improvise; practice with a metronome and progressive exercises to build fluency.

Turn everything you’ve learned into practice with proper posture, tuned technique, and new scales, then improvise slowly toward a complete, confident tune.